World of Warcraft

Thursday Mom and I were going to see The Kilkenny’s perform at MartiniPlaza. The Kilkenny’s are an Irish folk group. I’ve got their songs in my Folk playlist on Spotify and I really enjoy them. They have a distinctive voice both as a band as well as individually and pick songs that aren’t all that traditional. Of course there’s always a few, but they also play original songs and traditionals lesser known outside Ireland.

Unfortunately, during the day Mom had to cancel on me as she wasn’t feeling well. She’s been having some flu-like symptoms for a few days now so it wasn’t completely unexpected, but still a bummer. I asked Nienke and Ingrid if one of them wanted to come along, but neither could make it so I went alone.

The concert was great. They were energetic, played fantastically and managed to get the room full of stodgy northerners to move. No dancing, but there was foot stomping, clapping and singing along when requested. I had a front row seat and managed to shoot some video for Mom.

After the concert and encore were over I checked the time. The bus back to the train station only came once every half hour. If I could catch the next bus, I had an excellent connection to the train. Then the boys came back for an extra encore. I wasn’t expecting that, and neither were a lot of other people as many had started leaving.

I stuck around for a while, but I had to slip away before they finished that song. If I didn’t catch the bus, the next one was half an hour and then I’d have to also wait for the next train and so on. So I grabbed my coat and picked up the pace. Walking as fast as I could I raced to the bus stop only to miss the bus by a minute. Because it was early.

I wasn’t really in the mood to hang out there for half an hour so I checked the map and ball parked that I should be able to make it if I walked. So I went, and I did make it! Even though my leg wasn’t in agreement with this. 🙂

Yesterday at work during the daily meeting we all got a present for St. Nicholas. Every one got a personal poem (mine about my Pikachu hat), plus candy. It was a very fun meeting and quite a nice surprise.

After work I found a package waiting for me. It was the Goblin Zeppelin of the Warcraft lego I had ordered. Of course I spent the next two hours or so building it. It is a beauty.

I hooked up the laptop to the TV and I’m spending a lot of time in my comfy chair watching the panels. With an occasional cat as decorative lap ornament.

Bring on Legion!

I also found this awesome Kickstarter: Music for Cats. It’s this dude, David Teie, who’s been spending his time figuring out what kind of music animals like. He started with dogs, but is now working on music for cats. He’s been doing research into how cats hear and what sounds they like and then composes pieces based on his findings. With the proceeds of the Kickstarter he wants to record and release the pieces.

So far, the Kickstarter is only a week and a half old and he’s blasting through his goals. I pledged to get a CD set with the music. One regular CD and three CD’s that have the music with silence in between so I can put on a CD in the morning for the cats and it will play throughout the day.

LootCrate’s theme this month is Summon. That on its own wasn’t really enough to interest me. But then they teased about there being Blizzard items in the box. So I caved and got one. First thing I saw when opening the box, was a Pikachu hat. I’m not a huge Pokémon fan, but I did watch the cartoon a lot when I was a kid. So the hat is a hit, and it’s nice and warm, too. The next item was a gold coloured Homer Simpson as Buddha thing. This was a major miss. I don’t particulary like The Simpsons, and find this thing really just tacky.

Then came the Blizzard items. The first was a Hearthstone shaped stress ball. It fits nicely in my hand and I’m very pleased to have a real-life Hearthstone to match my in-game one in World of Warcraft. The second item was a Hearthstone coin with a code for three free card packs in the Hearthstone game. I don’t play that a lot, but it is a nice time kill in quiet moments. So free card packs are much appreciated then. The coin is of a solid metal with a nice feel.

Another really good item was a miniature version of Baby, the card driven by the Winchester brothers in Supernatural. I’d gotten Nienke one of these for Christmas last year and I’m really happy I have one for myself now, too.

Lastly, they included two summoning themed games. The first one a mobile game, with the ability to unlock extra content by scanning the LootCrate box. The second a card game of sorts. They included a booklet of cards for one player. Which means I will never play it, as I would need to find someone else who also got this LootCrate. Of course, I could copy the cards, but that looks bad and is too much effort for a game I’m not that interested in playing.

Overall, the Blizzard items, the car and the hat are fantastic and make up for the okay games and the tacky Homer. I am pleased I bought this box.

I’ve been afraid of the dentist ever since I was about, seven, eight years old. Before, I never had any issues, but then, when my adult canines came through, my baby teeth didn’t budge. So when I went to the dentist for my normal check-up he hmm’d some, and yanked them out. It broke whatever trust I had in him, and I never got it back. I was forced to see this dentist until I turned 18 after which I promptly registered with another dentist, went once and then stopped. In the intervening years, I’d never had any problems with my teeth, so I wasn’t really worried.

About two, three years ago, one of my wisdom teeth came through. It took some time, my jaw isn’t very big so there wasn’t a lot of room for it to enter. It was also hard to reach with a toothbrush but I figured it’d be okay. About a year ago I hit the side of that tooth with my finger while pulling something, piece of popcorn probably, from between the te18eth before it, and I felt a sharp edge.

Over the next year I occasionally felt with my tongue and it kept being there. I knew it had to be a cavity, and that it would probably be best to get it out. So last month, I finally gathered up my courage and registered at the dentist here in town. I went in for a check-up, discussing my fears before hand (loss of control, not knowing what’s going on, not so much pain). So for that first appointment, my dentist just looked and poked a bit and x-rayed my teeth. Turned out my teeth in general are in good shape. I have tartar, but that can be removed. The wisdom tooth, on the other hand, had three cavities. So it had to come out, what I had already been expecting. Fortunately, the x-ray also indicated I have short roots, so it should not be a problem to do so.

This morning, I went in for the extraction. I was actually surprised how calm I was, but I’d been telling myself for weeks now that it was necessary and it wouldn’t be that bad, especially with the roots being short. I sat down in the chair, and had the dentist tell me briefly what she was going to do. Then she injected the numbing agent, once on the inside and once on the outside. This was okay, since I’m used to needles both for injections and blood draws. I didn’t even feel them.

After waiting half a minute or so, she poked my gums to see if it was numb, which it was. Then she started working around the tooth. The pulling and pressure was a bit scary, but since I didn’t feel any pain, I just clenched my hands and managed. Then she clamped the tooth, said I might hear some creaking since it was so close to my ear and then it was out.

Some suction, and clamping down on a gauze, later I could sit up and everything was done 🙂 I had a bit of the shakes as a release from tension, but once I was outside and back on my bicycle that, too, went away.

I rode to the Parents, since it was my free day. I had to clamp down on the gauze for half an hour, so I couldn’t talk very well, but it went okay 😀 I’d been given an extra gauze in case it was still bleeding after half an hour, but that wasn’t even necessary. Once I was gauze-less again, Mom and I went for a wee bit of grocery shopping and then I joined them for lunch.

The rest of the afternoon I rewarded myself with glorious Warcraft (Stable Master achievement, woohoo), and a quick stint of vacuuming 😛

Went to the city this morning with Mom to get our eyes checked and pick out new glasses. It has been quite some time since I last got a new pair, and since it is still 2014, my insurance will still cover it (I’m scaling it back next year). Once at the store we always go to, it turned out that I last got new glasses seven years ago. So yeah, I’m due for new ones. It being seven years ago also meant updating my data, and it’s always fun to see how people react. The dude was very professional and only mildly surprised 😀

Got the full eye check-up done, it seems my eyes got slightly better as my cylinder deviation has apparently gone away. After measuring we picked out frames. I wasn’t, and still am not, completely satisfied with what was available. I wanted something as close as possibly to my old pair: black rimmed, rectangular and not too tall from top to bottom. But apparently that’s out of style, so they are a bit taller now. I’ll get used to it, but it’s not my favourite. Mom found herself a very pretty red pair.

Then we picked out the options on the glasses. I went with extra thin, an anti-reflection coating and a blue-screen thingy so it mellows bright white light a bit and this brought me nicely to the €6 below the max coverage my insurance gives.

Now, I’m back home and focusing my attention for the rest of my free day on the gloriousness that is my newly delivered Warlords of Draenor. Black Portal, here I come!

I bought this book recently, but didn’t get around to actually using it until today. The point of the book is to carry it with you while you turn your normal daily life into a scavenger hunt to find the items listed in the book. And when you have found one of the items, you turn around the book and flip to a random page. The edge of the page then tells you what to do with the item you’ve found and then, after you’ve done that, you can register it in the book.

Yesterday I joined Ingrid in going to The Farm to celebrate Julius’ birthday. It was a really fun day with good people and tasty food (they had made a wide assortment of cakes, tea and candies). While walking around checking out the new goats I found a magnificent white feather. And today I realised the book had a feather on the list 😀

As you can see, it has a space to note the time and date and how and where I found it. I wrote in the corner what I was supposed to do with it (Play) and since that isn’t something you can really show, I described it around the feather. And to keep it festive, I taped it to the page with fabric tape.

I also spent some time, yesterday, building my new Warcraft Lego Set. It consists of a Goblin on a rocket and a Night Elf on a sabercat (aka “Barren’s Chase”).

On Friday, Gert and I went to see Pride. This is an historical film taking place in England during the miner’s strike of 1984-85. The movie opens in London during a march for LGBT rights. After the march, a group of friends meet up in the bookstore of one of them and discuss politics. As they get to the strike, they realise that the plight of the miner’s is not unlike theirs. Both are not seen very positively in the public eye and garner a lot of abuse.

The group decides to band together to raise money for the miners. Raising money is very much needed as the union’s funds are getting depleted and social security is limited, so the miners are short on money and necessities.

Thus the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners organisation is formed. It doesn’t always go well, but eventually they have raised a fair amount and go about looking for a way to get it to the needy. They contact the National Union of Miners, but they refuse the donation, not wanting to be associated with the LGSM. At first discouraged, the group decide not to give up and start looking for a town to give their money to. They find the Welsh town of Onllwyn and are ecstatic when they accept the money.

They pile into their van and travel to Wales to hand over the money. Once there, the atmosphere is awkward at first, as the town had not quite understood they were a gay group. However over the course of the movie, the continued support and interactions show most of the town that the LGSM are people, too, and they gain a mutual understanding of each other that is paid back after the strike ends.

I loved this movie. It takes place in the same time period as The Normal Heart, and touches on some of the same topics (acceptance, gay rights, AIDS) but mostly this is a heartwarming story in a difficult time, whereas The Normal Heart is heartbreaking.

Since I now live in this town, and am free on the day, I figured I should attend the Baaistemaart (lit. Animal Market). It’s a fairly regular annual market, but it specialises in animals. The main street was set apart for the horses, both bigger ponies as well as this collection of Shetlands. Beyond that were normal stands with the usual market stuff both edible and not. On the town square was a tent displaying livestock (sheep, goats, alpacas, rabbits, various forms of guinea pigs, and a collection of birds) and having stands of various organisations, the local vet clinic and so on.

I went with Kim, at first, and later did another round with Mom.

Once home from that, I transported myself to Azeroth for some WoW’ing. With the coming 6.0 patch, Aggem Thorncurse will be replaced as boss in Razorfen Kraul. Which also means that it is no longer possible to tame his boar spirit (which he summons during the fight) that has a unique skin.

I have a lowbie hunter toon that was about level for this dungeon. But not quite enough to be able to do it by himself. And since I’m a stubborn and unsociable bastard, I don’t like doing content with others. So I’ve been leveling him the past few days to get him powerful enough so he and Bokito (his current pet) could get it done. The first time did’t work. I managed to kill Aggem, but the boar only stays up for so long after Aggem dies so after I had healed myself and started the taming, it despawned when I was done and it failed. So I reran the dungeon and this time around started taming right after defeating Aggem and caught it.

Illidan: “You are not prepared!” Arthas: “WTF dude!? I’m not the enemy here!”

Woohoo! Illidan & Arthas finally arrived today, aren’t they cute?

I finished reading the second and third part of the Maze Runner trilogy. I really like the world building, how the current dystopian society was formed. The science, and sociology, behind the whole thing is fascinating. I also liked how you could never quite trust anyone. That being said, the books do feel rushed sometimes, and the ending is too easy. I am, hoever, interested enough that I will be reading the prequel sometime in the future.

I also read If I Stay. It’s a good book, well written, good characters and the story is well done. I was a wee bit disappointed, though. This because the story is really a romance and I was expecting a bit more supernatural elements besides the obvious one.

Started watching Resurrection on TV. It’s a show where an eight-year-old, American boy is found wandering in China. After he is returned, he is placed in the temporary case of an immigrations officer. He tries to figure out where the boy is from, and returns to his hometown with him. There, it turns out he is the son of a local couple. The catch, though? He died 30 years ago…

DNA testing and the like proves that he is in fact their son. The rest of the series deals with how the family and the town people (once they find out) deal with this, especially as more resurrected people show up. I find it really interesting, and it features Omar Epps (Dr. Foreman on House) as the immigration cop.

The first season is only 8 or 10 episodes, and they show 2 an evening, so it should only take a few weeks to finish.

Ooh, and miracle of all miracles, Nienke suggested we play a board game, the other day 😀 So we played Rummicub.

There was a war going on, and I was the general of one of the sides. I don’t know who we were fighting, or even why. I just knew, my side was the French Horde. I can understand where the Horde came from, as I have been playing a fair amount of Warcraft, but why they were French, I haven’t the slightest idea 😀

Anyway, we had to assault the enemy base, which was on the other end of a large pass. The pass was generally straight, but twisty because of rock outcroppings and other nature things sticking out. Added to that, there were many, many gates in the pass. For the WoW players among us, it was basically a version of the Dragonmaw pass leading to Grim Batol, except straight.

The gates were very, very tall; easily 8-10 meters high. And every gate was swarming with defenders. We couldn’t get too close, because they had archers and would throw all kinds of crap down on us. Boiling oil, pitch, rocks, etc… All the while yelling insults at us, Monty Python and the Holy Grail style.

Fortunately, we had trebuchets, and with the copious amounts of rocky outcroppings we had more than enough ammunition for them. And lucky for us, the gates were wood. So it took us a long time, but we managed to break down the various gates.

Unfortunately, I awoke before we reached the enemy stronghold 🙁

My companion yesterday morning

Friday I went to see Lucy with Gert and Nienke. It was an interesting film, exploring what might happen if we could use all of our brain at the same time. Even though it starts from the old, flawed, premise that we only use 10% of our brain, it is still entertaining to watch. It has some pacing issues where the first half goes fairly slow, and the second half fairly fast. I would have liked to see it the other way ’round as I found the first half, where Lucy delivers the drugs and ends up with it in her system, less interesting then the second half, where Lucy has figured out what the drugs do to her, and goes about trying to help herself before it kills her. The movie also has Morgan Freeman in it, which is always good.

After, we went to Starbucks and dropped Nienke off at the station.

Gert and I then went back to the cinema for Hercules. No deep thoughts necessary for this one, it was pure entertainment. I liked it a lot better than I had previously expected. It was a nice treatment where the myth really is larger than the man. Good to see how his friends help, and helped, him achieve the things he gets hired for, all the while using their tricks to bolster the myth.